Besides the soaring mercury, Dilli is also simmering about Canada denying visas to several retired and serving defence officers.
Besides the soaring mercury, Dilli is also simmering about Canada denying visas to several retired and serving defence officers. The episode has created a serious diplomatic incident as inquiries have revealed many more such instances in the past when Indian citizens were refused visas on grounds that their organisations were engaging in violence and subversive activities.
With an agitated Home Ministry now threatening a tit-for-tat response and Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao too taking a serious view, Canada is now seeking to control the damage.
Certainly the stakes are high enough to merit a move to soothe frayed tempers. There is the question of the 900,000 strong Indian diaspora in that distant country, which is a major factor in the equation. Also, India has threatened not to support Canada at the upcoming G-20 summit in Toronto.
The situation is fraught, as they say, with possibilities. And clearly not all heat in Dilli can be blamed on the weather or even on the previous security spat over Blackberry codes ufffd still simmering somewhere.u00a0
Anxious momentsThe biennial Rajya Sabha election always leaves Dilli abuzz with the activity it loves best. Coupled with murmurs about an impending Cabinet reshuffle before the monsoon session of Parliament, it is Congress politics that is raising the most heat and dust. Though there aren't any surprises except for Jethmalani from the BJP among the finalised candidates, the stakes for the Congress are clearly high. And the going is never easy when compromises have been struck.
Also, the relief of the union ministers Anand Sharma, Ambika Soni, Jairam Ramesh and Oscar Fernandes at the extension of their parliamentary tenures is likely to be tempered by anxieties about a Cabinet reshuffle which some believe is around the corner. So, we have some more busy days ahead.
